On 8 June 2023, a 45-year-old man was charged under Section 201(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (“SFA”) for employing a scheme to defraud a Contract for Difference (“CFD”) provider. The charges arose from a joint investigation carried out by the Commercial Affairs Department (“CAD”) of the Singapore Police Force and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
CFDs allow a trader to trade on the price movements of underlying assets without having to own the underlying assets (for e.g., stocks listed on the Singapore Exchange ("SGX")).
Between August 2020 and March 2021, the man allegedly defrauded the CFD provider on 215 occasions by artificially influencing the prices of six different stocks listed on the SGX, so that he could trade in the CFDs at the artificial prices to make illicit profits. He allegedly did so by entering fraudulent orders for the affected stocks without having any genuine intention for the orders to be fulfilled.
The man faces six charges under Section 201(a) of the SFA which are punishable under Section 204(1) of the SFA. Five of these charges are amalgamated under Section 124(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (“CPC”).
If convicted of a charge under Section 201(a) of the SFA, an individual will face imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine not exceeding $250,000, or both. For each amalgamated charge, an individual potentially faces two times that punishment if convicted, pursuant to Section 124(8)(a)(ii) CPC.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
08 June 2023 @ 7:15 PM